Re: A trip in to the Old Continental Bottle house 1966 State of the Art

Re: A trip in to the Old Continental Bottle house 1966 State of the Art

There has been no Whiskey in Barrels there since 1979. Just a couple of surviving barrels on that floor missing the middle hoops they are just staying together. Brought back alot of memories of rolling barrels in the warehouse back in the day. The big difference is no weight if they were full you would be working hard moving those 72 gal barrels.
Dave Z
It Seems All The Nicest People Drink Old Hickory
America's Most Magnificent Bourbon

Re: A trip in to the Old Continental Bottle house 1966 State of the Art

In the old days the new 1966 Bottling House was the high point of the Plant. Having around 250 + people per the two shifts with a total of 600 people working at Kinsey.

Inside the 1966 Bottle House was like a city with all of the 11 bottle lines roaring, including Line A-1-F which did 40,000 bottles a day being run by an early generation Computer which used vacume tubes in its controls.

We had enough room to warehouse all products and Docks that could handle 3 Rail Box Cars and 10 trucks at the same time. The Building started as Explosion Proof all Purpose Warehouse U being turned into the Powerhouse it became on Sept 1966 when it opened, and the time I got Hired. When my Dad worked there it was just an all Purpose whiskey storage Building.

The Building was 2 football fields Long and 3/4 of a football field wide. The day it opened it was the largest Spirits bottling House in the world and the Most Modern also. It had its own lab and Nurses station also, and its own Mantaince crew.

People from all over the world traveled to Linfield to tour it. Continental Distilling was the largest employer in Montgomery County, Limerick township back then.

I wish there were some Pictures I could show here of How Beautiful the Plant was back then also. Having been hired to work in the Yard gang I saw first hand how well the Plant was taken care of. Mr Neuman called it His Beautiful Distillery on The river.

It will always be one of my favorite things in my Life and those days remain dear to me till I leave this world.
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It Seems All the Nicest people Drink Old Hickory
America's Most Magnificent Bourbon
Dave Z

Re: A trip in to the Old Continental Bottle house 1966 State of the Art

One of the saddest things of all is walking in the 1966 State of art bottling house built by Si Neuman. Nature and vandels have totally destroyed what is the newest Building there being built in 1951. It leaks water between its sections, the air is filled with dust, I wore a mask in there and the Vandels Have broken in and stealing stuff again big time.

I still think one day someone doing that will get hurt and not be able to get help as they go in there in total darkness in the late hours of the night to do their evil deeds. And I don't want someone to say times are tough, yes they are but if you are a thief you are just that. There nothing Noble about stealing things.

I walk in there and it is hard to believe people just ruining things just for the so called fun of it. In 1966 about 500 people worked two shifts in the bottling house and it was the worlds biggest and most modern. Now it is just a abandon wreck.

There are not many of us left who worked at Kinsey but I have never met anyone who worked there that did not like working there. And the pay was the best around back then. An engineer who works where I do now saw my old Pay stub from Kinsey 1966 and said I cleared alot more then he did right out of collage.

Years later I would be driving truck for half what I would have made working at Kinsey till the end.
However it would have been terrible to go in to work to find out it closed overnight forever. There are many Refridges in the bottle house still holding lunches never eaten.
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It Seems All The Nicest People Drink Old Hickory
America's Most Magnificent Bourbon

Re: A trip in to the Old Continental Bottle house 1966 State of the Art

The 1966 state of art Bottling house was very inovative and was like a small city having just about anything they needed inside one place. It warehoused all the filled cases of whiskey, all the new Labels and cases and bottles for the whiskeys and also all the shipping of Product out the door. It was as I have said 2 full football fields long and 3/4 of a football field wide. Two shifts ran Monday through Friday with about 520 people in the two shifts.

We had enough capacity that we never ran on weekends. Line A-1-F early computer driven could crank out 40,000 bottles a day. There were 10 other lines of various type running all the time too. Safety was a big issue and even at the end finished hole through the bulkhead to the last room for shipping and storage at the top of each line, a Sprinkler was mounted just in case of fire.

The bottling house had its own modern Lab and Maintaince shop. Also its own on duty Nurse and dispensery. It had a large Lunch room with lots of ARA vending machines, such as Cup soda's Cigs, treats and Sandwichs.

The area was in what was a dock when the building was built and they put a frame work of glass windows so that if you raised the big metal roll door you could look outside on nice days.

The bottling plant when it opended was as modern as you could build and many people from the industry came to look it over including ,many distillers we bottled for such as Seagrams.

All Liquor bottling was done at Happy House the old Kinsey bottling house till 1979 when the comany stopped making and bottling drinking spririts.

Walking into the Big Bottle house was like walking in a large city with people everywhere doing their job and everything flowing smooth as silk!

It was a beautiful operation and well managed and it is my belief that if Mr Si Neuman had not died suddenly as he did it would still be operating with a new still on site and much more. There was lots of room and lots of good wells for water and He would have upgraded everything. There was lots of talk while I still worked there of many things to come. And separating the Industrial Alcohol production from the distilling of Spririts Alcohol was thought to be coming to Linfield soon! That was why they kept the Old Kinsey still intact for Grandfathering.

We had lots of water for fire protection being on the River with two large water towers one in front and one at the back and two high pumping systems. And about 200 acres of land.

Mr Neuman loved the Kinsey Distillery and traveled up almost weekly to look around at the plant. Offten he would get out of his old Bently and walk around talking to people. As Long as he lived we knew without a doubt we would have good paying jobs.

I look back now and relise how darn blessed we were working there and the great company we worked for. I well remember the Old water tanks with Continental Distilling Corp and Disvision of Publicker Industries written on them back then!
Dave Z
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It Seems All The Nicest People Drink Old Hickory
America's Most Magnificent Bourbon

Re: A trip in to the Old Continental Bottle house 1966 State of the Art

Summer is returning and The 1966 Bottling house is getting worse every spring. When it rains water runs between the sections of the building.

Weeds are taking over the Amazing dock that could handle 3 rail cars and 10 trucks. Vandels continue breaking in and stealing and creeps continue writting grafiti on walls. I am sick at heart at what is happening to what was such a beautiful Plant and a great place to work.

It would kill Ludy if he saw how it looks now. He worked there from 1933 through to 1980 except for late 1939 when Jacob G Kinsey went bankrupt.

I think of all my Old timer friends - Shorty 'Harison Tyson' Dickie Phiefer -Eagle Beek 'Warren Eshbach' - Lou Stefy - Big Bitch 'Milt Shantz' and Charlie Seipler. And so many more including My dad who worked there about 3 years when I was a Kid.
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Kinsey The Unhurried Whiskey
For Unhurried Moments

Re: A trip in to the Old Continental Bottle house 1966 State of the Art

When Mr Neuman Opened the Inver House Distillery in Scotland around 1964 it opened the door for afordable Scotch for America. It cut the exsise tax way down because it was an American owned Distillery. And When the 1966 Bottling House Opened on Sept of 1966 in made way for Lower Scotch prices because Most of the Scotchs were shipped in Barrels Here and Bottled in Linfield Pa. Then making Scotch afordable to the Common Man. Inver House Scotch sold for around $ 3.95 a 4/5 in the Late 1960's.

The Bottling House was like a gaint Jewel shining in the sun back then. It was built as Explosion Proof Warehouse U and making it into the New Bottle house started in around 1964/65. Once it Opened the old Bigler Street Bottle House in Phila closed from bottling Spirits forever.

Also the Old Kinsey Bottle House ( Happy House ) continued bottling all the Liquors the company made. Ones such as Peanut Lolita, Amarretta Lolita and Caffe Lolita. Also our wonderful Blackberry Brandy and much more.

American made Products bottled in the USA by hard working class Americans. Around 600 People worked at Kinsey once the Bottling House opened and because of the bottling house I got my Job on the Yard gand as some people bumped to go in and work in the bottling house!
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Kinsey The Unhurried Whiskey For Unhurried Moments
Dave Z

Re: A trip in to the Old Continental Bottle house 1966 State of the Art

I found a nicer colored Picture of Angelo Myers Offices in Phila before Prohibition happened. Mr Kinsey Used Mr Myers services and name to market his Rye Whiskeys.

His office was down town at 311 n. 3rd street in Phila. At no time during the History Of Kinsey Distilling when Mr Jacob G Kinsey was there did anyone ever own the Plant but Mr Kinsey, and then when he went Bankrupt Continental Distilling bought it at a silent auction in spring of 1940.

Till when the Person who owns the plant now since 1982, and abandoned it in sept 1986 when Continental went out of bussiness, was the place so terrible. I was over walking Sunday and I just get very upset seeing how People just destroy the place for something to do.

The 1966 Bottling House is the newest building on the propery and also the worst for destruction. Water pours in from the ceilings due to vandels stealing metal edging on the roof. Daylight comes in from between the sections of it. Mould everywhere and thiefs stealing everything they can. As for them I hope for every dollor they get stealing they lose $10.

Vandels are now painting weird things on buildings and tanks, I am so glad I started this back in 2006 as I got lots of pictures of everything before those things happened. My one great regret is that I did not get there before 2002 so I could have got Pictures inside the Old DSP-Pa-12 Still.

It was so neat when I swept in there back in the yard gang, and the feeding of Wonder Bread to the fish in the one cyprus wood Fermenter next to where we clocked out is such a great memory.

I remember those days fondly and love to share those times with my Friends here on SB!
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It Seems All The nicest People Drink Old Hickory
America's Most Magnificent Bourbon
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Dave Z